Does tamoxifen cause other serious side effects?
Women taking tamoxifen in the BCPT had three times the chance of developing a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung) as women who took the placebo (18 women taking tamoxifen vs. six on placebo). Three women taking tamoxifen died from these embolisms. Women in the tamoxifen group were also more likely to have a deep vein thrombosis (a blood clot in a major vein) than women on placebo (35 women on tamoxifen vs. 22 on placebo). Women taking tamoxifen also appeared to have an increased chance of stroke (38 women on tamoxifen vs. 24 on placebo).
